Here In Your Arms
by Tropical Medlies
Summary: "I promise it's going to be okay, Immy. It'll all be okay, and I'll be there with you every single step of the way." One-shot.


Fiona had spent the entire night tossing and turning in her bed, the image of Imogen kneeling beside the car and sobbing over Volta's broken body burned into the back of her mind. No matter how many times she tried to block out Imogen's muttered words to her father that it was okay, that he needed to just leave her alone and let animal control deal with the situation, the words still rang in her ears. She tried to rearrange herself across the mattress, hugging the pillows to her body and pushing the covers away from herself, anything to forget the heavy weight that had been Imogen's body slumped against hers after she had given up on crying altogether and had just gone silent after her mother had left and it was the two of them alone again.

She had offered to stay at Imogen's house for the night, or to have Imogen come and stay at her loft, but it was a no go. The girl seemed to just want to be alone, and Fiona respected that. Even so, it felt remarkably lonely there, even with Drew just a room over, and she found herself rolling to look at the digital clock on her nightstand. It read 3:26, and she sighed, realizing that she hadn't slept at all and she had to be up in two and a half hours to get ready for school. She reached out to blindly swipe her iPhone off the bed and send a quick text message.

It didn't take more than thirty seconds for her phone to vibrate, the screen lighting up harshly in the dim room. She squinted against it, taking a second to read. It seemed like Imogen was having a hard time sleeping, too, and all she had responded to Fiona's question of how she was doing was with an _okay_. Her thumb hovered over the keys for a minute, her bottom lip between her teeth, and she finally decided to respond with _see you before homeroom, Immy_.

It was another half an hour with not a trace of tiredness before she decided to get out of bed and walk around the condo to do something with herself. When she padded into the kitchen while tying the sash on her robe, she was more than a little surprised to see Drew hunched over the granite island, hands wrapped around a mug of hot chocolate. "Drew," she said cautiously, rounding the island to pour herself some hot water and mix in the cocoa.

He glanced up, circles evident under his eyes. "Fiona," he said, sounding tired. He stood straighter, taking a long sip from his mug, eyeing her carefully, as if he wasn't sure what his next move would be. She took out a spoon from the silverware drawer and then bumped it with her hip to close it.

"What are you doing awake right now?" she asked, stirring her mix together, frowning a little when she realized she hadn't added enough hot water and frowning even more when it was clear that there wasn't any more left.

He laughed, setting his hot chocolate down, and shrugged. "Would you believe me if I said girl problems?"

She rolled her eyes and set the spoon aside, lifting the mug to her lips. "The great Drew Torres? Having girl problems? You don't say." Fiona took a sip and grimaced. Definitely too chocolatey for her liking.

Drew rolled his eyes and picked up his mug again, crossing the room so that he could sit on the couch. "Funny. What are you doing awake right now? Don't you have a lot of beauty sleep to catch up or something?" Fiona followed him, abandoning her hot chocolate and labeling it as a failure.

She sat down next to him, crossing her legs underneath her, and hesitated before answering. "Girl problems too." She'd keep her replies vague, knowing that Imogen wouldn't want her problems broadcasted to the world, but at the same time she needed someone to talk to. Drew seemed like a good option for now, since he didn't really seem to keep up with anyone from Degrassi except Bianca and Adam. Adam was trustworthy enough, and who was Bianca really going to tell? "What's going on with you? I thought you and Bianca were happily in love now?"

Drew ran a hand through his hair, causing it to stick up at odd angles, and she made a face before fixing it for him. He glanced at her before smiling and shaking his head a little. "It's just this whole - this whole not being in school thing, I think. I don't really see her a lot. She's at school, she's got Bright Sparks practice, I've got work, she has curfew. It's hard to see her. It just feels like we're on different wavelengths, you know?"

Fiona nodded, pushing a curl away from her face, and draped an arm over the back of the couch. "Well, are you talking to Bianca about any of this?" He remained silent for a minute and then shook his head. She gasped and then hit his shoulder. "Drew! You have to talk to her about these things! Girls aren't mind readers, we don't know what you guys are thinking when you get all silent and broody. Just talk to her and see how she's feeling. I bet if she's feeling the same way you guys can work things out. I'll even let you have the condo a few nights a week so that you can rekindle the romance." He opened his mouth to reply and she held up a hand. "_If_ you promise to do the same for Imogen and I."

He smirked. "I knew there was a catch. Okay, okay, yes. I agree. So, what's your girl problem? You and Imogen are fighting already?" Drew shifted on the couch so that he was facing Fiona head on, his brow furrowed like he was ready to tackle any issue that she had.

She pursed her lips, trying to think of a delicate way to approach the situation. "No, we aren't fighting. Imogen's just having a tough time right now with some things, and it's complicated. I'm here for her, and she knows that, but I don't know how to help. I feel useless, you know? It - it sucks, Drew." She ducked her head, feeling ridiculous for the way that her eyes were suddenly welling up with tears. She hadn't realized how emotional she was over the whole situation until just then, and she had to wonder how badly Imogen was handling things when it was all directly happening to her.

Drew didn't say a word, instead wrapping an arm around her shoulders and letting her lean her head against his chest. After a few minutes he reached for the remote and turned the channel on to something random, and they stayed that way until it was time for Fiona to get ready for school. As she rose to her feet, still not the least bit tired, she bit her lip. "Thanks," she murmured, leaning down to kiss Drew's cheek.

He smiled at her, stretching. "No problem, Princess Fiona."

—

When she arrived at school the next morning, she wasn't fazed by the fact that Imogen wasn't waiting by her locker as she usually was. She had assumed that she would be a little late, if she ended up going to school at all. The death of a pet was something that people didn't just get over if they were really attached to them, so she wasn't going to begrudge Imogen that. As she was pulling her books out of her locker and internally wondering why she hadn't just dropped out of school altogether because there was nothing she loathed more than calculus, she was interrupted by the sound of a body hitting the locker beside her.

She glanced over to find Imogen with her head resting against the metal, and she reached out to touch the other girl's back. "Immy…" Imogen twisted to gaze at Fiona, looking like a pitiful little puppy, and Fiona's heart nearly broke right there. Making up her mind in a split second, she threw all of her books back in her locker and slammed it shut. "Okay, come on, you." Taking her hand, she pulled Imogen through the throngs of people and towards the front doors of Degrassi.

"Fions, where are we going? I can't leave, I have so much to do! I have to try and get a pass to get out of my classes today to work on the sets or else Eli is going to have my head, plus I have a group project to work on, and my dad will kill me if I miss school!" Fiona bit back a comment about her dad not remembering if Imogen would miss school, knowing that would only spark a fight. She really wanted Imogen to try and get her father help instead of denying there was anything wrong, but she knew her girlfriend would come around at her own pace.

When they got outside and underneath the overhang, Fiona let go of her hand and spun her around so that she could put her hands on her shoulder. "Imogen. Look at me. Breathe. One day is not going to kill you. You're under a lot of stress, and we're going to take one day to just sit back and relax and do anything you want to, alright? Just you and me. We'll watch all the monkey-related movies you want and eat ridiculous amounts of junk food and we can talk when you want to. Okay?"

Imogen searched Fiona's eyes and finally let out a sigh before grinning at Fiona. "Fine! Fine, let's go. You're such a bad influence on me. But you have to explain to Eli why the set isn't done today, and you have to deal with his wrath."

Fiona returned her smile. "I can deal with him, don't you worry. Now come on, we have got to get out of this rain; it's absolutely ruining my hair."

—

"Imogen, this movie is terrible."

"Fiona, shh, you're going to ruin the best part!" Imogen reached up to cover Fiona's mouth without looking, and instead almost poked her girlfriend in the eye. Fiona made an indignant noise, pushing Imogen's hand away from her.

The two of them were sprawled out on the couch - or, rather, Imogen was sprawled out. Fiona was sitting normally and Imogen was laying with her head in her lap while Fiona gently threaded her fingers through her hair as they watched some terrible B movie. When they had gotten back to the loft, Drew had just been leaving to go to his shift, and as he had walked out the door he winked at Fiona, which caused Imogen to throw a confused look at her girlfriend. As far as she knew the two of them were still feuding and Fiona had yet to fill her in on their new budding friendship.

From there they had done their usual things that transpired when they had the loft to themselves: they baked (or rather Imogen baked, since Fiona had the culinary skills of a five year old, and the last time she had tried to make anything more than microwavable mac and cheese she had set off the smoke detectors); they jammed out to a playlist that Imogen had set up way back when they were just friends (or Fiona tried to play the air guitar while Imogen laughed until she cried, because, really, her girlfriend was too adorable to be real sometimes); and obviously there was a little making out. Okay, more than a little making out.

It was all capped off by the movie that they were currently watching, but Fiona couldn't help but want to talk about everything that was going on with Imogen right now. She knew that being pushy wasn't going to help anything, but keeping things bottled up wasn't going to help Imogen, either. She spent the last half hour of the movie lost inside her own thoughts, trailing her fingers up and down Imogen's arm, and by the time the credits rolled she had come to a decision.

"That wasn't that bad, Fi," Imogen commented, sitting up and locking her fingers together above her head so that she could stretch. Fiona regarded her for a minute, and Imogen frowned, suddenly feeling self-conscious. "What?"

"Immy, I think we should talk."

Imogen laughed nervously. "Is this the break up talk? 'Cause it sounds serious."

Fiona eyes went wide and she shook her head quickly. "No! No, it's definitely not the break up talk. I don't plan on giving that for a while. Wait, no, that's not what I meant. Oh, you know what I meant! Stop giving me that look!" Imogen smirked at her and toyed with a strand of hair that was falling in her eyes, waiting for Fiona to go on. "Look, I just think that maybe we should talk about some of the things that are going on. I mean, it's a lot of stuff to take in at once."

Imogen pinched the bridge of her nose, not wanting to get into all of this now but needing the outlet at the same time. "Fiona, it's just - it's all just so complicated right now. I don't know what to do, you know? I'm only seventeen. I shouldn't have to deal with all of this. I mean, he's my daddy. He's always been a little eccentric, and I thought that this was just him being a little more eccentric than usual. But after - after…" Here she paused, swallowing hard before continuing. "After Volta, it's clear that there's something wrong. I just don't know what to do. And before you say anything, I don't want to get my mother involved," she tacked on the end, seeing the expression on Fiona's face.

Fiona reached out to put a hand on Imogen's knee, glad to see that the other girl didn't move away when she did so. "Maybe you should just start with bringing him to the doctor's," she suggested, her heart sinking when Imogen's face fell. "No, honey, it's for his own good, I promise. What if he gets extra forgetful one day and he gets hurt?"

Imogen bit her lip and looked up to meet Fiona's gaze through her eyelashes. "I hadn't thought of that," she admitted. After a few silent minutes of internal debate she nodded. "Okay. I'll take him." Fiona smiled at her, squeezing her knee gently. "But can you come with me when I take her?" Her voice was small when she asked, like she was expecting Fiona to say no.

"Oh, Imogen. Of course I'll go. Come here." She opened her arms and it didn't take Imogen even a second of hesitation to scramble over the distance between them and cuddle right up next to Fiona. Fiona kissed the top of her head and smoothed down her hair, experiencing a major sense of deja vu from earlier that day with Drew, although she would have chosen to do it with Imogen any day of the week. "I promise it's going to be okay, Immy. It'll all be okay, and I'll be there with you every single step of the way."

Imogen hummed in response, her lips against Fiona's collarbone, and Fiona buried her face in her girlfriend's hair. In reality she had no idea if things were going to be okay, and she hated the idea of lying to Imogen, but she needed her to feel like there was some sort of light at the end of the tunnel, if only for a moment.


End file.
